Snow Day

A few weeks ago, we had a rare event here in central North Carolina, we had significant enough snowfall that my place of business told us all to stay home for the day.  We were all very lucky that we got to stay home that day and enjoy all of the festivities surrounding the Obama Inauguration, as well as time to spend with family relaxing and going out in the snow.  I took a few pictures of my yard in the snow.  I love snow, especially because it is such a rare treat in this part of the US.

View in the front yard.  I wonder if my neighbors realize that their house is showing up in a blog based in HK?  What a strange and wonderful world we live in!

This is a bush honeysuckle that was just beginning to bloom the week before.

This was such a pretty flower...before the snow.

The back yard.  The birds really appreciated the seeds I put in the tube feeder.  We had a lot of finches all day.  I wonder why there are none in this picture?

The patio, waiting for spring.

The view outside my window.  The snow was very soft and fluffy.

The first daffodil.  It began blooming the first week of January.  (It is also a crazy flower and blooms at this time every year.  All of the other daffodils are much more reasonable and wait until at least late February to begin blooming.)

Those green stalks poking up out of the snow on the left are the same flower.  The snow broke the flower stalk and it never recovered, even after the snow melted.  I guess that crazy early-blooming daffodil was a casualty of the snow storm.

Because this is North Carolina, the snow melted the very next day (actually, it began melting the same day, but didn't finish until the next day).  Snow is, typically, very fleeting here.  This was the first measurable snowfall we had in 4 years.  Now they are predicting 1-3 inches for tonight.  We will see:  we have been disappointed so many times in the past with forecasts of snow and then nothing of consequence happens.